jfairbairn

initially we ran summer 2017 update (in term time due to exam officer request) and SIMS failed and rolled back, but as we'd scheduled all updates to run, FMS carried on and installed fine... We were still on SQL2008, so our fail (and a lot of other schools too i hear). WSSfS rolled back FMS and we were back to where we started, OK. On Tuesday (01/08/17) we migrated to SQL2014, SIMS/FMS ok, Tried to run summer 2017 update (SIMS only this time), kept failing. WSSfS 1st Line support advised to "delete solus" and reinstall, I asked if they meant uninstall, they said "uuuurh yeah..." (unsure tone). I uninstalled/reinstalled, no joy, too many old solus3 remnants and it took 2nd line support most of Wednesday to fix Solus (remove and reinstall etc), run the summer 2017 updates... but... There is a discover patch that should be run before the summer update (sorry, don't know the number, but removes duplicate SEN entries), we are currently waiting for the Capita Devs to create a post summer 2017 update patch to apply. Hope this helps, feel free to ask about certain points and I'll elaborate further.

All done, test logins to Sims.net and FMS - OK Waiting for Discover data transfer to finish. I ran Patch 22750 prior to deploying the Spring release updates, as it only came out 2 days before and I didn't think it would be included in the main updates.

All backups done, about to push the metaphorical button. thanks for feedback everyone.

Just spoke to WSSfS and they said: No known issues with the spring release. Do the Solus 3.11.61 update first. All of the pre-spring release patches should be in the spring release.

Have you done the upgrade yet? Have you had any issues? Did you run all of the patches that came out before the spring release, before running the spring release? I'm about to raise a call with SCAS, I mean SITST, no I mean WSSfS... I'll feedback any useful information.

NSA_Data_Collection_Unit_v.5.27

We are a small secondary school (630 Students / 75 Staff) and we use Iceni from Opendium It's a great system for a good price, we've been with Opendium for nearly 5 years now and it was one of our best decisions. Most of our users have at least 2 internet connected devices (we allow BYOD), with our staff having at least 3, the iceni copes easily with those numbers. The guys at Opendium are very knowledgable and approachable, everything is tailored to your system, network or in our case, strange technical nuances. One thing that really sets Opendium apart from their larger contemporaries is that when you call their support number, you can speak to someone who really knows what they're talking about and 9 times out of 10 will resolve the issue during the call, truly awesome. If you are thinking of changing you filter/firewall etc, definitely give these guys a call (and feedback to this thread and let people know your thoughts).

If you're new to setting up iPads I would suggest doing the first few iPads manually. Take screenshots (press home button and sleep/wake button simultaneously) at each stage of configuration. These are saved to the Camera Roll (Photos), use these as a guide to help you to replicate the process on the next iPad. Once you have activated the iPad and installed all the required apps, you could use the Configurator to make a backup of the iPad and then Restore that backup image to the remaining iPads (USB hub very useful here to configure multiple iPads simultaneously) essentially cloning them. If you have a Mac running OSX 10.9 Mavericks and the Server App, then you can use Profile Manager to configure restrictions etc and deploy apps Alternatively you could use Meraki as it is free and is a simple way to deploy profiles, configure restrictions etc, with the added bonus of being cloud based. If you will have sole responsibility for the iPads and you want them locked down as much as possible, consider making them "Supervised" devices. Meraki allows you to locate devices in a similar way to "Find my iPhone" through iCloud.com and with similar features such as remote lock, remote wipe, send message and play sound. It has more features than I have time to list, but you can manage windows, iPod, iPhone, Mac, android and chrome devices as well. If you're not very experienced with OSX, then sign up to Meraki as it's fairly straight forward to get started and is a powerful tool. I hope this is helpful. Sent from my iPad using EduGeek

We use PRM Green Technologies (www.prmgreentech.com) We tried to have a containers worth of old equipment removed by other recyclers, but they refused to take what we had. I emailed [email protected] on 03/12/13 to enquire about PRMs services and received an email response in 5 minutes!!! The collection was arranged within 24hrs (the only delay was me estimating the number of items for recycling). A collection was offered for the next day but I could not take advantage, so as a result, the whole process took 4 days!!! Never have I worked with someone who is as efficient as Michelle the Bookings Manager, she made the whole process a pleasure. This is why I am more than happy to post here on Edugeek, to let everyone know.

I've been having various issues with winsuite, but my biggest bugbear with NDI tech is that they have not updated any of their winsuite flavours since 2005 and yet they still have the cheek to sell it. whinge whinge, moan moan.

I've been having various issues with winsuite, but my biggest bugbear with NDI tech is that they have not updated any of their winsuite flavours since 2005 and yet they still have the cheek to sell it. whinge whinge, moan moan.

For those of you waiting with bated breath, losing sleep, wondering... Did the exams run successfully for him? Well, the answer is yes and no. The tests started well, up until the point when 50% of the pupils taking the test realised they were doing last years test. Exams halted, my long suffering collleague Immediately reported the problem to Edexcel. Due to the sheer volume of calls Edexcel were experiencing at that time, the phone was answered by non-support person (a cleaner perhaps or a conscientious passer-by, on hearing screams of anguish coming from within the Edexcel office, went to investigate... I digress) who took details and arranged a callback. This delay affected the whole school (as i disabled the rest of the network) for nearly 2 hours longer than necessary, almost overunning into the next exam and resulted in pupils having no break between exams. - Not good! Once Edexcell had rectified the problem (ha ha ) the tests got underway, it was then discovered that half the pupils had been given the mock tests they had already completed, Ridiculous! So I await instruction as to the next step. All the errors on Edexcel's part aside for a moment, the delivery of the tests (albeit the wrong ones) went smoothly, the machines behaved well. Prior to the exams, during our testing phase, we only had one PC that refused to play the audio clips and due to time constrainsts another PC was used (I suspect a removal and re-install of Flash will remedy this). The pre-exam routine we followed was this... Log on to all PC's to be used as Admin and update prommisor client. Check flash player is installed. Ensure the pupils have full permission to access Edexcel/Promissor folders in C:\Program files. Log of Admin and log on as your test user. Run demo tests (these will have been requested by you from edexcel). Once demo test are completed (assuming no issues) log off test user and log on as Admin and clear Internet cache files. Shutdown PC, it is now ready to be used for Exams. As well as these steps, I disabled the rest of the Curriculum network to ensure there was no other traffic and this made all the difference to performance, compared to the numeracy tests we conducted whilst the rest of the network was up. I hope this post is useful to someone (other than myself, to vent my spleen), I live in hope that one day Edexcel Online testing will be just that, Online, login to a website and sit the exam (in at least IE7), then all we (long suffering tech's) would have to do is update flash and maintain a good internet connection, whilst Edexcel earnt their money by doing everything else at the backend of the website.

It's that time of year again, after a painful (though thankfully a small group) edexcel numeracy test, it's time for french reading and listening (joy). The Numeracy test started at 8.45 and started well, I was filled with optimism and started wondering why i had been dreading the test. I was soon reminded , at 9.00, when the rest of the curriculum network users logged on, edexcel online testing started to slow down, panic started to set in with both teacher and invigilators (this was only a very small group, approx 10 pupils). I hasten to add that I'm not one to panic, but all positivity that had built up before 9.00 suddenly evaporated leaving a rather bitter feeling, how could I have been so naive as to believe it would work. We've recently had a fiber backbone put in for the curriculum, we run promissor (a fantastically titled program that should be called the empty promissor or fibber) on a dedicated server, but still it crawls along. I've followed every recommendation that edexcel made, to ensure each pc is configured correctly to give the test the best possible chance and spent a lot of time recently talking to various companies we use regarding ways of segregating the traffic to and from the exam server and there appears to be no easy way around this. I have requested some demo tests for tomorrow, which will be conducted whilst the networks at its busiest, then later we will attempt the same at a quieter time. I will be running the real french reading and listening (back to back) for 19 pupils at 10.30 this thursday (4th june) and my fallback solution is to pull all the uplinks to all the cabs except the cab serving the exam PC's, although this seems an extreme solution and will ruffle many feathers, I am not prepared to faff about and waste my time hanging about during the exam in order to make excuses for edexcel, whilst trying to defend the network. Please excuse me moaning on this post, but you fellow edugeeks are the only people who understand. If anyone has any suggestions as to how to remedy any of these performance issues, they would be gratefully received.

Studywiz prices will vary, between you, me and all the other forum users and without being too specific, we're around the £3,000 mark (we have approx 600 pupils on roll). As was mentioned earlier they like to charge extra for each module. on the plus side they are quite flexible and you can do some deals, if you can develop good practice or create resources or enhance studywiz in such a way as to give them another marketable commodity, then you can barter for discounts/modules etc. A word of caution though, there are always teething problems with each new deployment or module (as you may expect with anything really new), ensure that you have an emergency contact no. from them. on a more positive note their support is very good and problems are resolved quickly.

We have been running Studywiz for about a year, to good effect. The staff have accepted that its here to stay and most are getting "into" it. We're currently running Version 9.3, if your on an earlier version its worth going through to the "global community" and downloading some user manuals to find out what your missing or speak to your rep. At the moment we are developing our plans for our studywiz portal, this would eventually provide a single sign on solution for email, vle(s), etc.